Tag Archives: Life skills

LEADERSHIP – What Does It Take [TED Talk]

Leave a reply

“Leadership” is the Shyamalan Foundation’s #2 practice, and I’ve blogged and emailed the summary details in the recent past. Here is a TED talk on the subject that both sounds supportive and extends some important examples.

There are many leadership programs available today, from 1-day workshops to corporate training programs. But chances are, these won’t really help. In this clear, candid talk, Roselinde Torres describes 25 years observing truly great leaders at work, and shares the three simple but crucial questions would-be company chiefs need to ask to thrive in the future.

Roselinde Torres: What it takes to be a great leader –   October 2013, San Francisco

College Applicants Sweat The SATs – perhaps They Shouldn’t

Leave a reply

An NPR Morning Edition article on a large study puts SAT and ACT standardized test scores in a real-world, practical context. Read the full article here. Here are the highlights:

  • SAT/ACT testing is not exactly a fair way to show skills.
  • what happens when you admit tens of thousands of students without looking at their SAT scores – the answer is – if they have good high school grades, they’re almost certainly going to be fine.
  • There was virtually no difference in grades and graduation rates between test “submitters” and “nonsubmitters.” Just 0.05 percent of a GPA point separated the students who submitted their scores to admissions offices and those who did not.
  • And college graduation rates for “nonsubmitters” were just 0.6 percent lower than those students who submitted their test scores.
  • High school grades matter — a lot.
  • Kids who had low or modest test scores, but good high school grades, did better in college than those with good scores but modest grades.
  • The study covered 123,000 students at 33 institutions over eight years; the conclusion: test-optional admissions improves diversity [and] does not undermine academic quality.
  • SAT/ACT testing may be discouraging students who have great potential for success [from applying to] a particular school,
  • The private test preparation market for the SAT and the ACT is a $2 billion-a-year industry in the U.S. Critics of the tests have long said the exams better reflect a family’s income and a student’s speed at test-taking than aptitude, competency or intelligence.

The Heckman Equation – economic development and education

Leave a reply

This article in Businessweek January 20-26, 2013 is a wider public distribution of the concept, problem, and solution early child education speaks to that Governor Martinez spoke of in her State of the State address today. Heckman’s Equation brings hard, observable data into the realms of making public policy.

James Heckman, is a PhD economist at the University of Chicago and views education for 3- and 4-year olds as fix to a current serious market failure.  In terms of economic development, early child education is a hard-nosed investment that pays off in lower social welfare costs, lower teen pregnancy rates, decreased crime rates, and increased tax revenue, as opposed to  spending on prisons, health and adolescent special education remediation.

Through the Heckman Equation, he found that an initial investment in free instruction of $17,758 per child per year in 2006 dollars, yielded between $60 and $300  return on investment (ROI) in state and federal welfare monies, increased tax revenues, and, most significantly, savings in police and court costs. As an economist, he finds this is  a 7% to 10% annual ROI.

So, not only did this turn out to not be a cost, it more than paid for itself in annual ROI in improved human capital to business and society, he also found it consistently beat historical ROI on equity (the stock markets) of around 5.8%.

The data further show that the earlier a child gets help, the better the results continue to be through each stage of education. Literally, the greatest ROI or ‘bang for the buck’ exists in early intervention – early child education, and this effective ROI reduces throughout adolescence.

A big problem arises when kids ought to be in early education programs which most young parents can’t afford. Heckman says, “The accident of birth is a huge, huge imperfection in the (economic) market.”

The good news is, and data show, this is overcome-able through targeted early child education and it appears to be scalable.

As an aside, in a 2011 Heckman lecture, he points out that cognitive testing stressed by NCLB and Race to the Top, only speaks to one dimension of a multidimensional system that includes, at least: integrity, socio-emotional skills, character, collaboration, grit. Yet data strongly indicates these untested characteristics may account for the largest share of human development, effectiveness in life, and contribution to the economy and society. These are the “soft” skills that are so widely reported today to be both in short supply and increasing demand.

Beyond interesting, the data also show these “soft” skills even affect scores on cognitive tests!

Bring 21st Century Into High Schools

Leave a reply

Here’s a quick summary of, and link to, a June USNews article about bringing the 21st Century into the High School classroom.

A recent Gallup research program interviewed 1,014 people ages 18-35 with varying levels of education, asking them to recall their last year of school.

They found that about 1 out of 2  or  2 out of 3 individuals were NOT presented with collaboration, real-world problem solving and critical thinking opportunities in their high school experience.

While students were techno-savvy, only 3 percent had used discussion boards, video conferencing, Skype or other collaborative tools in the classroom.

Students tasked with regularly using these 21st century tools were more likely to say they excelled at their jobs, and that these tools were crucial in today’s workplace.

The Common Core State Standards adopted by most states require teachers to incorporate collaboration, problem solving and critical thinking into their lessons.

Cull current events: Look at what is dominating the news cycle and think about how it can apply to lessons. Use severe weather outbreaks and environmental disasters to illustrate everything from climate patterns to the logistics of coordinating relief efforts. Use the never-ending campaign season to teach students about statistics, social studies, finance and big data.

Tap industry experts: Getting a CEO into a classroom can be a logistical nightmare. Getting them on a Skype call – now that’s another story.

Free online tools can open up a wellspring of opportunity for getting experts in front of students. Educators can set up a call or join one hosted by someone else, using resources such as Skype in the Classroom. Teachers can also turn the tables and have students present a project or pitch an idea to industry leaders,

Read the complete article    here.

Some notes on life lessons …

Leave a reply

Got to thinking about a recent conversation with my wife about ‘what works in life.’

Between us we’ve done a bunch of life-trainings over the decades – est, Lifespring, Lifespring Leadership Program, Al-Anon, Verle Minto, Technologies for Creating, Busting Loose (taught seminars for 5  years), Unity Church, Science of Mind, … and we kind of came the to a discovery that it all boils down to a few principles or propositions:

  • Woody Allen said 80% of life is just showing up  (*)  so, show up for your life!
  • it really is your life; you really can ‘just make up’ a huge amount of it
  • and even ‘remake it’ on the fly if you really want to
  • think about ‘your word’ before, and as, you give it or declare it
  • then keep your word
  • if you can’t keep your word, know that you CAN renegotiate – but never just let it slip!

And three powerful questions for all kinds of situations (yes, the order is important):

  • In this particular situation, what is working?
  • In this particular situation, what is missing?
  • In this particular situation, what is next?

Interested in what you think …

(*)  Woody Allen full quote: “I made the statement years ago which is often quoted that 80 percent of life is showing up. People used to always say to me that they wanted to write a play, they wanted to write a movie, they wanted to write a novel, and the couple of people that did it were 80 percent of the way to having something happen. All the other people struck out without ever getting that pack. They couldn’t do it, that’s why they don’t accomplish a thing, they don’t do the thing, so once you do it, if you actually write your film script, or write your novel, you are more than half way towards something good happening. So that I was say my biggest life lesson that has worked. All others have failed me.”

Woody Allen WikiQuote link … cool.

An ‘A’ for Job Readiness?

Leave a reply

From Melissa Korn, At Work Blog, WSJ.com:

“Nearly 80% of current college students say they’re “very” or “completely” prepared to put their organization skills to work, while just 54% of hiring managers who’ve interviewed recent grads would agree, according to a survey of 2,000 U.S. college students and 1,000 hiring managers, conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of education company Chegg.

Students overestimate their abilities by at least 10 percentage points on each of the 11 criteria measured in the survey, according to the findings.”

From the study:

Assessment characteristic

Students view

Recruiters’ view
Making decisions without all the facts

47%

37%
Ability to communicate with bosses and clients

70%

44%

The study also found that collaboration, managing up (i.e., managing your manager(s)), making persuasive arguments, and critical thinking in general, were unprepared for. The feeling that more hands-on and applied learning would be supportive to both students and employers.

Methinks starting more ‘hands-on and applied learning’ in middle- and high-school would also be supportive.

The 6 killer apps of prosperity – 2011 TED Talk

Leave a reply

The world is constantly changing, only now it’s changing ever more rapidly. This 21 minute talk can give you an idea as to how you, your children and grandchildren may be affected. Here’s a summary from the TED Talk page:

“Over the past few centuries, Western cultures have been very good at creating general prosperity for themselves. Historian Niall Ferguson asks: Why the West, and less so the rest? He suggests half a dozen big ideas from Western culture — call them the 6 killer apps — that promote wealth, stability and innovation. And in this new century, he says, these apps are all shareable.  (My underlining)

History is a curious thing, and Niall Ferguson investigates not only what happened but why. (Hint: Politics and money explain a lot.)”

View the talk here.

This talk has been viewed 993,860 times.